By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
November 09, 2025
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Luke 20:27–39 (ESV)
27 There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, 28 and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. 30 And the second 31 and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. 32 Afterward the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, 36 for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.” 39 Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.”
Our current age has a variety of opinions about just about everything. These opinions are usually fine, except there are times where we hold our opinions so ridged that we are unable to adjust the situations we face.
I have been on both sides of these discussions. I have been the one that was unable to see around my own ego, and I have been the one that could see the gaping flaws in an opinion held by someone else. I have found as I have become more mature in mind and in faith, that there is a great deal more I do not understand. The more I travel around our country and world, I have come to realize that there really are different ways to do things. I have noticed that certain areas have issues that other areas do not face. That is why we should be quick to listen and slow to speak.
I grew up in rural Kansas. I learned to drive a car at the age of five because someone needed to follow the tractor to help move from one field to another. We had to have firearms because when our livestock faced danger, we could not wait for animal control. We learned how to do basic first aid because any emergency needed to be handled by us, the closest EMT or police officer would not be at our location for at least thirty minutes and that was only if they were not going somewhere else at the time. When I talk about those things with people that grew up in Kansas City, they look at me like I am crazy, and when I hear what they experienced I often feel the same.
These different experiences give us different views. And as I have grown and seen various situations from different perspectives I have come to know that the more diverse our experiences allow us to have different tools as we approach the problems we face. I have considered this quite a bit over the past few years. I have listened to arguments and people pushing ideas at situations while many important factors were not taken into consideration because those giving the advice have never been exposed to it.
This is why as Friends we encourage the seeking of clearness. When facing large decisions we encourage a group to come together, we pray, ask questions, pray more, give answers, ask more questions, and again pray. Then miraculously somewhere along the way we all gain a sense where we know what direction we should go.
I bring this up because today’s passage could cause us to go into a theological tailspin if we are not careful. It can challenge us, and as we face these challenges I hope that we as individuals and as a corporate body can seek clearness.
“There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, and they asked him a question.”
We do not know much about the Sadducees. There were three main groups or sects within first century Israel: the Pharisees, the Essenes, and the Sadducees We know about the Pharisees because it is spoken of often within scripture. The Pharisees began during the exile in Babylon and it focused on how the people of Israel could maintain their faith even when there was not a temple. The Pharisees were active in spreading their faith and understanding. And all contemporary Jewish traditions, and if we are honest, Christian traditions emerged from the Pharisees.
The Essenes we know less about. They were mentioned by the Jewish historian Josephus but they are not found directly within scripture. It was only after the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls that we have learned more about this sect of Jewish faith. Those that participated in this form of faith looked at the first century expressions of faith with disdain. They felt that no one was worthy of living within the Promised land so they had communities just outside and most of their spiritual practice surrounded ritualized bathing and other disciplines. It is interesting to note that this group had developed one of the most accurate calendars. And according to their calendar every holy day, landed on the same day every single year, and they believed that they could pin point the very day of creations with accuracy.
The Sadducees are mentioned a few times in scripture, as well as in the writings of Josephus. But unlike the Essenes they we have no writings to prove what they actually believed or from where they began. All we know about this group is found within the pages of scripture, and accounts written of them from people often opposed to their ideas. What do we know? They only accepted Torah, or the books of the Law. And that they do not believe in the resurrection.
The old testament we have today is derived from Hebrew Scriptures. In these books there are sections, the Torah or the books of the law, the books of wisdom, And the teachings of the prophets. Those that say things like the law and the prophets likely come from a Pharisee background, because they accepted the writings of the prophets as scripture. The Sadducees would not speak about the prophets because they only saw the books of Moses, the Torah as being scripture.
We would like to think that we do not have division like this, but we do. Every bible in our pews contain sixty-six books. But there are Christian traditions that have additional books. We often think they were added, and in the case of Mormons this is true, but in the case of the Catholics and Orthodox traditions it is not true. It was the Protestant traditions that removed books from the Catholic bible, and we have our reasons for doing so. But we should be mindful that we were the ones that made that change not the other way around. We were the ones that became more like the Sadducees, trusting only in certain books in exclusion of the others. Why did we do this? The rational is that the questionable books were only found in the Greek translations of the Old Testament, they were not in the known Hebrew scriptures. This is the same rational the Sadducees used in their positions, the writings of the prophets were not in the scriptures given to us by Moses so they are not acceptable. They have some good things to say but they do not have the same authority as those passed down to us by the Law giver.
The Sadducees, only see authority in the books of the law, where the Pharisees use both the law and the prophets, and the Essenes use the law and the prophets along with their own traditions. Everyone is bringing something to the table of understanding. We could not be where we are today in our system of faith without each of these groups. And the Sadducees come to Jesus and they ask a question based on a theological concept they do not agree with. I want us to look at this question like we would a question about our contemporary theologies about the end times. Some of us believe very strongly in a rapture, while other do not know if scripture supports this. Some of us believe that the end is nearly here, and other would argue that it cannot be near because of some other factors. My position is my own I do not have any real scripture to support it, but in my opinion the end is not near because we have only just begun exploring the vastness of God’s creation and our duty as humanity is to tame all of creation.
Back to their question. “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. And the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. Afterward the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.”
Before we can move forward it is important to have some basic understanding as to what some of the theories on resurrection were at the time. For those that did not believe in the resurrection, they rationalized the concept to mean that our essence lives on in our offspring. This was largely the theory that could be derived from the Torah. They came up with this theory because there is an importance on land, inheritance, family, and heirs within the books of Moses. Much of the old testament law surrounding interpersonal relationships are based on ensuring that there will be a generation to pass the land to and if there is not your name and the complete line of your ancestors dies with you.
I want us to think about that idea for a moment. One of the commandments is that you should not commit adultery. As Moses explained this law more deeply in the other books the understanding of the commandment was that this really only applied to women, because when it comes to inheritance we always know who the mother is, but the only way of ensuring the father is for monogamy to be upheld. This is not only something in scripture but much of the ancient world had this concept enshrined in their law. Women should be monogamous where men could do whatever they wanted. Sadly this ideology is still prominent in today’s society when it comes to reproductive rights. We have become more progressive in inheritance law, but often the burden of childbearing usually falls on women. Hormonal birth control is for women not men. A woman will never bear a child if a man has not been present.
The question in the mind of the Sadducees is by in large what happens to the family line if no one else is alive to carry that name into the future? They were extremely logical and natural in their thinking. Other groups had different views. The Pharisees believed that when Messiah came all those that died in God would be raised, but there was a small little problem many of them believed that this would only happen in limited cases, if your family line remained living, or if you body was properly buried. This is why archaeology in Israel is so difficult to conduct, it is not the war between Israel and Palestine causing the trouble. More often it is the various religious groups wanting to make sure the bodies are not disturbed. Because if they are disturbed you might be preventing that individual’s chances of resurrection.
As you can see there is a spectrum of belief and yet there is commonality. The common theme is that the family line needs to continue, and that we should respect the resting place or the land our ancestors were buried. The Holocaust of world war 2, the purges of Soviet Ukraine, and much of the anti-Semitic policies of history were detrimental to the Jewish people because of these beliefs. The ten lost tribes are problematic to their theologies because of these beliefs. Can Messiah even come if the tribes are missing, if the line of Israel is broken? Do the people of Israeli heritage need to be in physical possession of the land of Israel? Are you cursed by God if you do not bear children? And if you are not married or abstain from intercourse are you an abomination in the eyes of God? This of course is a vastly limited description of these complex theological concepts, but gives enough of an understanding. The focus of their traditions and their relational ethic was based on continuation of the family and the family’s inheritance into the future. Anything that prevented or restricted this was seen as apostasy.
These Sadducees were concerned that this family would no longer exist. That the land of their fathers would be lost to the Gentiles and God would lose power. They loved their culture, they cherished their traditions, they were fundamentalists that kept their oaths and based everything firmly on scripture. We would love these men.
Jesus said to them. “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.”
This answer is something that we should contemplate deeply. What does Jesus mean when he says these words? I encourage you this week to read the various laws on human relationships this week, in the light of Jesus’ answer to these Sadducees. Often on facebook I will come across comments opposed to the traditional understanding of the Christian stance on human relationships. They will sight obscure verses like a biblical marriage requires a woman to marry someone who has assaulted her. This is true, scripture does say that. What they do not say is what happens if the man that assaulted the woman refuses to marry her, and also that he is also legally responsible to her until she dies, because in that instance divorce is never an option. It sounds extreme and harsh. It sound patriarchal and unloving.
We need to back away and look at the larger picture. What would happen to that woman? She would live under the care of her father, unable to be wed to a respectable member of society. Because they could not ensure who the father of the children would be. Remember this is a prescientific society. Jesus says, “sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.” This world, this age, and the one to come, or the new heaven and earth at the end of the age, are different. In the age to come there is no need for marriage, because we will all be one. We will take care of one another, we will be in communion with God. We will have all that we will need. It will be a land without war, without poverty, without loss, pain, tears, or sickness. There will be no death. Women will not need husbands not because there will not be women, but because there will not be a need for anyone to prove familial linage, because everyone will have all that they need.
I want us to think about that. Why do we marry today? Why is it important? Why does the church spend so much energy trying to fight our culture and preserve traditional Christian values? I am not anti-marriage I love marriage because within that union we can experience without shame the full joy of human existence. Without marriage there is shame. There is shame because there is the potential that an image bearer of God can be exploited, neglected, and abused. God gave laws on marriage through Moses, to protect us from ourselves. It is too easy for a man to walk away leaving a widow and orphan behind. It is too easy to take advantage of a situation, to focus on our own selfish desires and neglect the responsibilities that result from our carnal desires. We have marriage because we are irresponsible with the bodies God gave us. We have marriage to sanctify and human relationships. We need marriage. But does God need marriage?
What this passage is telling us, is that God does not need marriage. God does not need marriage because each child born in this world no matter who they are, where they are from, what their heritage might be, is an image bearer of God. They are, even if they do not accept it, and individual created to bear that of God to the world. We are children of God, and God does not have grandchildren. Each of us have the opportunity to accept the gift of grace provided to us through Jesus to pass beyond the veil of this life into the resurrected life where death does not exist. Where we can be equal to angels and sons of God. This does not mean we become angels, it means we become equal to angels. And what are angels except servants and messengers of the Almighty. The sons of God are living beings acting within the various realms of creation spreading the kingdom of God wherever we are.
God does not need marriage, but we do. God does not need marriage because we are all his children. But we need marriage to remind us of our responsibilities to others. We are to cloth the naked, feed the hungry, visit the imprisoned. We do this gladly within the family, but we are not only called to minister to our families. This is what God wants us to do throughout all of creation, because all of creation belongs to God.
Jesus said these things to a group of people that did not believe. They did not believe in him, and they did not believe in the resurrection at the end of the age. Yet the message was received. They responded to his answer by saying, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” This tells us something about our mission and ministry in this world we live. We can get caught up in the endless debates surrounding theology, and political ideology. We can be drawn into discussions of who or what legal rights are for who. We can get entangled in the culture wars that have been raging for generations. But what does this accomplish? If we are right have we shown those that oppose our view the love God has for them? Have we shown them the grace God has shown us? Have we lived a life in full view that demonstrates the hope that we have? We are called to love God with all that we are and all that we have and to love our neighbor as ourselves. We claim to be a people loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit, and living the love of Christ with others. Are we bearing God’s image well? Are we equal to angels in our relationships? Or are we consumed with this age?
Previous Messages:
Endure
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 26, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61) Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and…
Ransomed to Love
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 19, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:17–23 (ESV) 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time…
Born Again to a Living Hope
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 12, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:3–9 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born…
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